If you're going to shop at amazon.com, please click through The Tattoo's website first. It will bring us a share of amazon's profits and won't cost you a thing! Just click on the red link below to reach amazon.com. THANK YOU!

WESTERN CAPE, South Africa –
National Election Day arrived on April 22 in a fashion more peaceful than many
South Africans expected.

Iodine-stained thumbs of South African voters.

Mariechen Puchert/Youth Journalism International

As a public holiday, that meant,
for many, they could sleep in. But others woke up at the crack of dawn and made
their way toward voting stations around the country.

Philip Pilcher, left,and Ashley Baadjies, right, exit a Western
Cape pollling place after casting their votes.

Mariechen Puchert/Youth Journalism International

Some traveled by foot, the more
fortunate by car, but citizens throughout the country appeared to have a single
pattern of thought on their minds – reach the polling stations, vote, go home
and anticipate the results.

“We can all try to change the
country by complaining or we could try to change it by voting,” said Paul
Jordaan, a fifth-year medicine student in Western Cape.

When asked if they had voted,
those who did gave a thumbs-up to display the iodine stain on their thumb as
proof of voting.

Perhaps this thumbs-up is a
united sign of hope, a reminder that, regardless of the party that voters
supported, they are all simply looking for a more positive South Africa.

The election campaigns this year
were held with a vigor only exceeded by those of 1994 – a time which most
first-time voters can hardly remember, the first opportunity that every South
African had to participate in choosing the country’s leaders.

For many years, campaigns had
been careful of pointing fingers at other parties and focused instead on their
own policies and strengths. This year, for the first time, campaign posters and
speeches directly highlighted the faults of other parties.

A poster by the Independent
Democrats stated, “Can’t COPE?” in reference to a newly-formed party called
COPE.

“Vote ID,” another poster from
the same party, referred to the high rate of fraud among government officials by
stating, “Put criminals in jail, not in parliament.”

The Democratic Alliance took it a
bit further with posters explicitly demanding, “STOP ZUMA!” -- the African
National Congress presidential candidate Jacob Zuma, who ultimately won.

Voting stations were open from 7
a.m. to 9 p.m. and in many places in the country, queues of several hundred
meters thronged towards the stations.

Smaller stations, such as the one
at Tygerberg Academic Hospital in the Western Cape, experienced a much smaller
trickle of voters throughout the day,

An official from the Independent
Electoral Commission said they expected no more than 800 voters at this polling
station,
mostly students at the nearby Stellenbosch University Faculty of Health. But by 3 p.m., only an estimated
250 had cast their votes at the polling place.

Philip Pilcher, left,and Ashley Baadjies, right, exit a Western
Cape pollling place after casting their votes.

Mariechen Puchert/Youth Journalism International

Where was everybody?

South Africa has a population of
almost 50 million, of which about 31 million are eligible to vote. Of these, 23
million registered to vote. According to the election commission, national
turnout came to 77.3 percent of voters.

Though some students said they
didn’t have time or didn’t want to participate, many others did.

Theresa Stocky, a fourth-year
physiotherapy student said her reason for casting a ballot was simple: “Because
I’m proudly South African!”

Roelien Groenewald, a second-year
medicine student said that she doesn’t consider it right to complain about the
government if you decline to vote – thus, no voting, no complaining.

A fifth-year medicine student,
Melissa Pietersen, disagreed.

“It’s not just about not having
the right to complain if you don’t vote. It’s your responsibility as a South
African citizen to carry forth the democratic ideal for which blood was shed in
our history,” she said.

Roschan Maytham echoed
Pietersen’s thoughts.

“I try to be a responsible member
of society. This is part of that attempt,” Maytham said.

The official election results
released by the IEC on Saturday showed the African National Congress won the
race with 65.9 percent- its two-thirds majority to change the constitution out
of reach.

The Democratic Alliance retained
its status as official opposition with 16.6 percent the tally, up from 12.3
percent in 2004.

The infant party, Congress of the
People, got 8 percent of the votes and became the new official opposition in
four provinces, a feat unexpected for such a young party with access to very
little capital.

ANC-supporters danced at
celebratory rallies for their victory. Others sighed knowingly, as few had
actually expected the ANC to lose this year.
The ANC did lose some support, as
well as completely losing the province of the Western Cape, which was won by the
DA.

With the results known, life in
South Africa has returned to normal.

Election posters are fading and
the voices of politicians are quieting down.

A quick look at South African
Facebook profiles illustrates a relief, where young people state that they do
not want to hear the word “vote” for the next four years.

See story about the 2009
presidential election campaign in South Africa by
clicking here.

Help The Tattoo thrive! Your donation can
help us continue to provide the world's premier teen journalism.